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Fossil discoveries can transform our understanding of plant diversification over time and space. Recently described fossils in many plant families have pushed their known records farther back in time, pointing to alternative scenarios for their origin and spread. Here, we describe two new Eocene fossil berries of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) from the Esmeraldas Formation in Colombia and the Green River Formation in Colorado (USA). The placement of the fossils was assessed using clustering and parsimony analyses based on 10 discrete and five continuous characters, which were also scored in 291 extant taxa. The Colombian fossil grouped with members of the tomatillo subtribe, and the Coloradan fossil aligned with the chili pepper tribe. Along with two previously reported early Eocene fossils from the tomatillo genus, these findings indicate that Solanaceae were distributed at least from southern South America to northwestern North America by the early Eocene. Together with two other recently discovered Eocene berries, these fossils demonstrate that the diverse berry clade and, in turn, the entire nightshade family, is much older and was much more widespread in the past than previously thought., (© 2023 The Authors New Phytologist © 2023 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Four new species of Capsicum (Capsiceae, Solanaceae) from Andean tropical forests in South America are described. Capsicum benoistii Hunz. ex Barboza sp. nov. (incertae sedis) is endemic to a restricted area in south-central Ecuador and is most similar to the more widespread C. geminifolium (Dammer) Hunz. (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru). Capsicum piuranum Barboza & S. Leiva sp. nov. (Andean clade) is found in northern Peru (Department Piura) and is morphologically most similar to C. caballeroi M. Nee of the Bolivian yungas (Departments Santa Cruz and Cochabamba) but closely related to C. geminifolium and C. lycianthoides Bitter. Capsicum longifolium Barboza & S. Leiva sp. nov. (Andean clade) occurs from northern Peru (Departments Amazonas, Cajamarca, and Piura) to southern Ecuador (Province Zamora-Chinchipe), and is morphologically most similar to C. dimorphum (Miers) Kuntze (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru). Capsicum neei Barboza & X. Reyes sp. nov. (Bolivian clade) is endemic to southeastern Bolivia (Departments Chuquisaca and Santa Cruz) in the Boliviano-Tucumano Forest, is morphologically most similar to another Bolivian endemic species C. minutiflorum Rusby (Hunz.), and is closely related to C. caballeroi. Complete descriptions, illustrations, distributions and conservation assessments of all new species are given. Chromosome numbers for C. piuranum and C. longifolium are also provided. Three of the new species were included in a new phylogenetic analysis for Capsicum; their positions were strongly resolved within clades previously recognized in the genus., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background and Aims: Capsicum (Solanaceae), native to the tropical and temperate Americas, comprises the well-known sweet and hot chili peppers and several wild species. So far, only partial taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses have been done for the genus. Here, the phylogenetic relationships between nearly all taxa of Capsicum were explored to test the monophyly of the genus and to obtain a better knowledge of species relationships, diversification and expansion., Methods: Thirty-four of approximately 35 Capsicum species were sampled. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses were performed using two plastid markers (matK and psbA-trnH) and one single-copy nuclear gene (waxy). The evolutionary changes of nine key features were reconstructed following the parsimony ancestral states method. Ancestral areas were reconstructed through a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis., Key Results: Capsicum forms a monophyletic clade, with Lycianthes as a sister group, following both phylogenetic approaches. Eleven well-supported clades (four of them monotypic) can be recognized within Capsicum, although some interspecific relationships need further analysis. A few features are useful to characterize different clades (e.g. fruit anatomy, chromosome base number), whereas some others are highly homoplastic (e.g. seed colour). The origin of Capsicum is postulated in an area along the Andes of western to north-western South America. The expansion of the genus has followed a clockwise direction around the Amazon basin, towards central and south-eastern Brazil, then back to western South America, and finally northwards to Central America., Conclusions: New insights are provided regarding interspecific relationships, character evolution, and geographical origin and expansion of Capsicum A clearly distinct early-diverging clade can be distinguished, centred in western-north-western South America. Subsequent rapid speciation has led to the origin of the remaining clades. The diversification of Capsicum has culminated in the origin of the main cultivated species in several regions of South to Central America., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Capsicum L. (tribe Capsiceae, Solanaceae) is an American genus distributed ranging from the southern United States of America to central Argentina and Brazil. The genus includes chili peppers, bell peppers, ajíes, habaneros, jalapeños, ulupicas and pimientos, well known for their economic importance around the globe. Within the Solanaceae, the genus can be recognised by its shrubby habit, actinomorphic flowers, distinctive truncate calyx with or without appendages, anthers opening by longitudinal slits, nectaries at the base of the ovary and the variously coloured and usually pungent fruits. The highest diversity of this genus is located along the northern and central Andes. Although Capsicum has been extensively studied and great advances have been made in the understanding of its taxonomy and the relationships amongst species, there is no monographic treatment of the genus as a whole. Based on morphological and molecular evidence studied from field and herbarium specimens, we present here a comprehensive taxonomic treatment for the genus, including updated information about morphology, anatomy, karyology, phylogeny and distribution. We recognise 43 species and five varieties, including C. mirum Barboza, sp. nov. from São Paulo State, Brazil and a new combination C. muticum (Sendtn.) Barboza, comb. nov.; five of these taxa are cultivated worldwide (C. annuum L. var. annuum, C. baccatum L. var. pendulum (Willd.) Eshbaugh, C. baccatum L. var. umbilicatum (Vell.) Hunz. & Barboza, C. chinense Jacq. and C. frutescens L.). Nomenclatural revision of the 265 names attributed to chili peppers resulted in 89 new lectotypifications and five new neotypifications. Identification keys and detailed descriptions, maps and illustrations for all taxa are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capsicum regale Barboza & Bohs, sp. nov., a new species from the tropical wet forests of the eastern Andean slopes (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) is described and illustrated. This new species belongs to the Andean clade (all species 2n = 26) of Capsicum and is similar to C. longifolium Barboza & S.Leiva in its glabrescence, calyx morphology, and corolla and seed color but differs in its membranous and elliptic leaves, fleshy calyces, deeper stellate corollas, longer filaments, longer and purple fruiting pedicels, purple berries, and larger seeds. Its chromosome number was counted (2n = 26), a preliminary assessment of conservation status is given and discussed, and an updated identification key to the species of the Andean clade is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To fill critical knowledge gaps with regard to the distributions and conservation status of the wild relatives of chile peppers (Capsicum L.). Location: The study covered the potential native ranges of currently recognized wild Capsicum taxa, throughout the Americas. Methods: We modelled the potential distributions of 37 wild taxa in the genus, characterized their ecogeographic niches, assessed their ex situ and in situ conservation status, and performed preliminary threat assessments. Results: We categorize 18 of the taxa as "high priority" for further conservation action as a consequence of a combination of their ex situ and in situ assessments, 17 as "medium priority," and two as "low priority." Priorities for resolving gaps in ex situ conservation were determined to be high for 94.6%, and medium or high with regard to increased habitat protection for 64.9% of the taxa. The preliminary threat assessment indicated that six taxa may be critically endangered, three endangered, ten vulnerable, six near threatened and 12 least concern. Main conclusions: Taxonomic richness hot spots, especially along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, in Bolivia and Paraguay, and in the highlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, represent particularly high priority regions for further collecting for ex situ conservation as well as for enhanced habitat conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Capsicum (Solanaceae), native to the tropical and temperate Americas, comprises the well-known sweet and hot chili peppers and several wild species. So far, only partial taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses have been done for the genus. Here, the phylogenetic relationships between nearly all taxa of Capsicum were explored to test the monophyly of the genus and to obtain a better knowledge of species relationships, diversification and expansion. Methods Thirty-four of approximately 35 Capsicum species were sampled. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference analyses were performed using two plastid markers (matK and psbA-trnH) and one single-copy nuclear gene (waxy). The evolutionary changes of nine key features were reconstructed following the parsimony ancestral states method. Ancestral areas were reconstructed through a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis. Key Results Capsicum forms a monophyletic clade, with Lycianthes as a sister group, following both phylogenetic approaches. Eleven well-supported clades (four of them monotypic) can be recognized within Capsicum, although some interspecific relationships need further analysis. A few features are useful to characterize different clades (e.g. fruit anatomy, chromosome base number), whereas some others are highly homoplastic (e.g. seed colour). The origin of Capsicum is postulated in an area along the Andes of western to north-western South America. The expansion of the genus has followed a clockwise direction around the Amazon basin, towards central and south-eastern Brazil, then back to western South America, and finally northwards to Central America. Conclusions New insights are provided regarding interspecific relationships, character evolution, and geographical origin and expansion of Capsicum. A clearly distinct early-diverging clade can be distinguished, centred in western-north-western South America. Subsequent rapid speciation has led to the origin of the remaining clades. The diversification of Capsicum has culminated in the origin of the main cultivated species in several regions of South to Central America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable confusion exists within Capsicum (Solanaceae) regarding the status and typification of several names, in part due to misidentifications. Some types were destroyed in Berlin during the Second World War, some have not been found by modern systematics, while others exhibit uncertain locality data or contain material from more than one species. Fourteen lectotypes, synonyms, and a new name, Capsicum eshbaughii Barboza nom. nov., are proposed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]